Hi
My beads sorter project is currently on hold and the whole thing has been dismantled as I needed the parts for other project (and to be frank, got a bit frustrated with the whole thing).
Your project looks more promising and the best of luck. I hope you make a formal post if/when you get it to work. I especially liked your binary screws, that’s pretty neat. You probably need some sort of debouns function in your program to read them correctly but a great idea none the less.
My problem wasn’t only getting a single bead at the time, but also getting them to align correctly. My sensor needed to get them in exactly the same position every time.
Again, -great work and good luck with it. Looking forward to seeing a video if you get it working.